There are some things that you simply would not wish on your wost enemy, and yet they strike anyway. It now appears that the cause of Sen. Kennedy’s seizures were caused by a malignant brain tumor – glioma. Via Yahoo! News:

A malignant glioma — the diagnosis doctors gave Sen. Edward M. Kennedy— is the worst kind of brain cancer. Malignant gliomas strike almost 9,000 Americans a year. Survival statistics are grim — few live three years and for the worst subtype, half die within a year.

There are numerous factors that effect the survival rate, or even how long the patient lives after the diagnosis, but exactly where Kennedy stands on those factors was not released. Surgery wasn’t mentioned, which could suggest that it simply isn’t possible. Either way, this is extremely grim.

Unquestionably, Sen. Kennedy is a strong man, and there are several experimental treatments that could potentially be tried, though how much they could help is still largely unknown.

Its events like this that reveal exactly how petty our partisan differences are, and how many more important things there are in life, and I cannot say it any more clearly, but my thoughts and prayers are with the Kennedy family – one that has already suffered through far too many tragedies.